“There is no denying that for all of us – council as well as our community – these are difficult economic times and challenges lie ahead in the upcoming financial year.
“Costs have increased across all of council’s business. With that in mind, we have tried our best to balance affordability for you, our community, with maintaining the levels of service and investment that our district needs to thrive.
“We have done everything we can to keep rates as low as we can.”
Taupō District Council acting chief executive officer Julie Gardyne says given the financial strain already being felt by the region, the council was proposing a range of changes to its Long-term Plan to drive rates down as far as possible in 2023-24.
“We have looked at every single council operating cost and rationalised budgets as much as we can.
“We have also gone through our capital and community projects list to determine which projects are essential to deliver and whether they can realistically be delivered in the coming year.”
The community is being asked for its thoughts on two big questions: whether the council should invest in developing its East Urban Lands; and whether it should postpone some depreciation funding to reduce rates.
Cutting depreciation funding by 8 per cent would reduce the rates rise by 2.5 per cent, however it would need to be accounted for further down the track to ensure infrastructure and other assets are maintained at the required level, essentially pushing up future rates increases.
On the question of property development, the council owns a parcel of residential-zoned land, known as the East Urban Lands, between the East Taupō Arterial highway and Kokomea Village and Richmond Heights.
Council has simply sold pieces of land to developers in the past, who then spend the money and take the risk to develop it, mainly for housing.
This involved low risk for the council but it has missed out on bigger gains from developing the land itself in recent years.
“Those gains [profits] could then return to the community in the form of extra money for projects or to apply against rates,” says an explanatory note in the Draft Annual Plan.
“We want to know whether the community thinks council should invest in consenting, design and earthworks for a 6ha area of the East Urban Lands.
“Council then has a range of different options available to it. These might include selling the land for a profit to benefit the community, using the land for houses that aren’t currently being provided by the market (for example, smaller homes suitable for retired people or first-home buyers); retaining the land for future growth until the market is stronger, or a mix of all these options,” the plan reads.
Visit www.taupo.govt.nz/haveyoursay for more information. The Annual Plan consultation period runs until 4.30pm on Friday, April 28.
